Specials

Mrs. Daniels’ art class learns about role of the artist in NIE advertisements

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Observer photo/Bill Pearson
    STUDENT ADVERTISERS — Piscataquis Community Elementary School art students, from left, Aiden Watt, Sadie Davis and Hunter Martel work on their print advertisements for the Valley Grange in the annual Newspapers in Education supplement. PCES students in grades three and four designed ads which featured the Valley Grange’s role in promoting reading and agriculture.

By Bill Pearson
Staff Writer

    GUILFORD — The Valley Grange’s sponsorship in the annual Newspapers in Education program is an opportunity to combine two subjects — reading and art — in teaching Piscataquis Community Elementary School students about their organization.
    For art teacher Mrs. Daniels, NIE is an opportunity to show students another career opportunity for those interested in pursuing a career as an illustrator.
    The Valley Grange is one of 39 sponsor’s in this year’s Piscataquis Observer’s  NIE supplement which uses student hand drawn advertisements and other submitted works  as a teaching tool in promoting student literacy.

    Daniels views the program as a way to introduce the students into the field of advertising and marketing.
    “It opens the door to the students who want to pursue a career as an illustrator or graphic artist,” Mrs. Daniels said. “Art and drawing are both important parts in conveying an advertiser’s message.”
    Various classrooms around the region were provided a sheet of paper to design an ad for a local business. The students must include the business’ name or logo, customer’s message and product, and  business’ contact information, address and telephone number in the advertisement.
    The Valley Grange has spent several years promoting various literary and learning endeavors in local schools. The Grange sponsors “Words for Thirds” which provides third-graders with dictionaries, “Bookworms” which has a student read to an adult volunteer, and “Grow ME” which introduces students to Maine agricultural products.
    When the Grange began participating in NIE, Boomsma believed it was a natural fit.
    “Our business is kids and education. So you’ll probably see a lot of ads with books,” Boomsma said.
    And he was right, as many of the student produced advertisements were filled with balloons and airplane banners encouraging more student reading. Third -grader Sadie Davis drew a banner with the Valley Grange’s website address with a student below reading a book.
    The 39 businesses viewed all of the entries and selected the ones to be printed in The Piscataquis Observer’s NIE supplement.
    The Valley Grange chose two winning entries — one for grade three and the other for grade four. Grade three winner Matthew Burdin drew a story board advertisement. In the first block, he wrote on the top of the page “New members welcome!” and “Valley Grange 144.” Below that he drew two stick people. The first person said “Let’s go read a book” and the second person responded “OK, let’s go.”
    In the second board, the words “Have fun read books” were on the top of the page and below, the two people read books and  continued their conversation.
     Person one  said “Good book, huh.” and person two responds “Yep!”
    The fourth-grade winner was Nyla Larrabee whose ad had Valley Grange 144 imprinted in bold lettering in the advertisement’s center. In the upper left hand corner “new members welcome” was printed, and below, two kids and a dog were reading books. One child is sitting in a tree and the other is in a balloon. On the balloon, “Thanks, Valley Grange!” is written.
    On the artwork’s bottom is the tag line  — “Helping build strong schools and communities.”
    “The judges liked the artwork in the fourth grade winner’s entry and the fact it has ‘New members always welcome  and using ‘Helping build stronger schools and communities’ as the tag line,” Boomsma said.  “They felt the student’s ad reflected an understanding of the Grange’s product.”
    School’s in SAD 4, 41, 46, RSU 68 and Foxcroft Academy all participated in the Piscataquis Observer’s 2013 NIE supplement.

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Observer photo/Bill Pearson
    ARTISTS AT WORK — Piscataquis Community Elementary School students, from left, Pierce Fagen, Jessie Maybury and Arianna Fanjoy work on their Newspapers In Education advertisements for the Valley Grange. The black-and-white hand drawn ads include the business’ name or logo, customer’s message and product and  business contact information, address and telephone number in the advertisement.
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Observer photo/Bill Pearson
    VALLEY GRANGE AD — Piscataquis Community Elementary School art students, from left, Sadie Davis, Hunter Martel and Cassidy Rohdin draw print ads. Valley Grange spokesman Walter Boomsma said most of the ads featured students reading books because “our business is kids and education.”
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Observer photo/Bill Pearson
    HARD AT WORK — Piscataquis Community Elementary School third-grader Dominick Whipple works intently on his print ad for the Valley Grange. PCES third- and fourth-graders submitted entries for publication in the Piscataquis Observer’s Newspapers In Education supplement.
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Observer photo/Bill Pearson
    ART INSTRUCTION — Piscataquis Community Elementary School art teacher Mrs. Daniels instructs third-grader Shania Milano about how to draw an advertisement. Mrs. Daniels’ third-and fourth-grade classes participated in the Newspapers In Education program which is designed to promote student literacy.
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Observer photo/Bill Pearson
    THIRD-GRADE WINNER — Piscataquis Community Elementary school third-grader Matthew Burdin shows his ad which was selected by the Valley Grange as the best submission in the school’s third-grade class. The Grange also selected Nyla Larrabee as the fourth-grade winner.

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